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I’ve had quite a few people email me about adding an FM transmitter to their Mr. Christmas Lights and Sounds of Christmas. I’ve done it to both models (the 20-song version that I had last year, and the 40-song version I have this year) and used 2 different methods. I’m not sure which is better, but here’s the general idea (sorry - no photos yet. I sold my old one, and I’m not taking down the new one now).

First, remove the back plate from the unit. Then remove the screws in the deep holes, and carefully open it up. The speaker has 2 wires going to it from the main circuit board: white & orange.

Either solder a speaker wire where the existing contact points are on the speaker, or splice into this orange/white cord. Drill a hole in the side of the unit & push your wire through there. Now you have an external audio cable. It either has an end on it, or it raw wire.

I use the C. Crane FM Transmitter for my set-up. Once you have this unit, follow the directions on this page to expand the range of it.

Now you either need to cut the wire of the C. Crane unit or somehow otherwise hook it up to the wires coming from the Mr. Christmas. In my set-up, I had 2 male ends, so I bought a Female-to-Female Coupler from Radio Shack to hook it up.

Turn it on, and adjust the audio on the Mr. Christmas. Now, adjust the audio input on the FM Transmitter so when the Mr. Christmas hits the loud notes, you notice the red light come on the transmitter. If the red light is constantly lit, it’ll cause static on the other side. It’s very delicate.

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This entry was posted by Eric on Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 at 9:31 am and is filed under Christmas, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

My buddy asked me what in-car GPS navigator I recommend, and it’s no surprise I recommend a Garmin. But which one? Here’s my response:

I have 3 Garmins and know many others that own them. Hands down, the best GPS you can buy. They are the leader in this technology.

For my car, I have the StreetPilot c330. My father has the c340 - one step up from mine. Honestly, the 330 has all you need. All of the roads in the entire US & Canada are built into this, as well as the huge directory of business & government establishments (like hospitals, parks, museums, etc). I’ve had mine for 1-1/2 years now and haven’t had the need to upgrade the maps, although I might before our trip to Disney. An update is like $70 - just buy the DVD, plug-in the unit to your computers USB cable & let it run.

So when you’re looking at the various models, look for “Preloaded street maps, full coverage”

The c340 “speaks street names, optional FM traffic alerts”. The street names are OK, but the FM traffic alerts carries a monthly fee. Don’t bother (we live in Buffalo - traffic is not an issue).

The c510 has “anti-theft, high-sensitivity receiver, sunlight-readable”. The high-sensitivity receiver may be nice - I know in my van, I have to use an external antenna (they sent me one - no charge - after I complained about losing the satellites while driving). My MAXX does not need the antenna - I think it’s the way the windshield is angled on the van. “sunlight-readable” is a joke - they’re all sunlight-readable

“Bluetooth® wireless, speaks street names, MP3 player” in the c550 is overkill. You don’t want this stuff - you just want a GPS navigator.

The c580 has “MSN® Direct content” which is kinda neat. It’s an additional monthly charge (after 12 months included, you’ll pay $50 / year) and get traffic, gas, weather & movie information. Gas is probably the neatest feature. While the other units will tell you where to get gas, this one will tell you current prices. So you can save $0.02 / gallon for $50 / year. OK - maybe not worth it.

If it were up to me, today, I’d be looking at the c330 or c340. The c330 is $175 from Amazon while the c340 is $50 more. For $50, you can hear “In 100 feet, turn left on Knowlton Ave” rather than “In 100 feet, turn left.” It’s your $50.

This entry was posted by Eric on Monday, December 3rd, 2007 at 1:26 pm and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Lately, whenever I open iTunes, it warns me that it’s not the default audio player. Odd, because it’s the only audio player that I use. So I try to make it the default player, but no luck. I finally found that RealPlayer really, really wanted to be my default player, and wouldn’t let me change it! Scum!

Goodbye, RealPlayer. I guess I could’ve made a change in the Real preferences, but I’d rather just remove the “hijackware”. Hope this helps someone else

This entry was posted by Eric on Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 at 11:39 am and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Laura dragged us suggested we go to the Letchworth craft fair yesterday, so I figured I’d try to find a geocache that avoided me last year.

Geocaching is best described as using billion-dollar US Military technology to find Tupperware in the woods.

So far, my finds have either been with Rob, Ray, or Steve. The cache I was going after was What’s the Point by Road Kill, one that I attempted last year without any notes. Well, I needed the notes, as the first line reads: “The coordinates are not the final cache”.

So while Laura & the girls were looking for crafty things, Jason, Scout & I went out looking for this cache. We had a good time finding it… I just have to teach Jason that everyone isn’t out geocaching, and muggles don’t understand.

I’ve found 11 so far… quite a bit behind the near-500 Rob has found. Maybe I should do a few that are near home.

This entry was posted by Eric on Sunday, October 7th, 2007 at 7:51 am and is filed under Family, Outdoors, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

I finally upgraded my cell phone to something that does more than just make phone calls. Now I can actually be productive on the road with my new Moto Q from Sprint. Laura upgraded her phone, too, but not to something as complicated as mine.

And, to further make Steve happy, we added text messaging to both our plans. Yeah, I know… welcome to 1999. Let it be known that while I gave it, I did so kicking & screaming

This entry was posted by Eric on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 at 7:57 pm and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Google needs to hire me as their Director of Common Sense. They do some pretty stupid things over there.

I first complained about various Google services exporting to Excel, which I then have to import into Google Docs. Then there was Google Reader with no search capabilities.

Today I’m wondering why, when searching Google Images, Picasa Community Photos are not included. Compare this search on Picasa vs. this one on Google Images.

Let’s get a little more technical… Google is a search engine, and part of what they do is rank sites based on authority. Wouldn’t a blog with a lot of RSS subscribers be worth more than a site with little to no subscribers? Now that Google owns Feedburner, those stats should be integrated into their algorithm.

Sorry, Google - I’m not looking for a job. But if you want to send the corporate jet to pick me up and entertain me for a weekend, I’ll consider your offer.

This entry was posted by Eric on Thursday, September 13th, 2007 at 6:33 pm and is filed under Business, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.